By now you should have a student login, which gives you access to The Hautlieu Creative Blog too.
TASK 1 : UPLOAD YOUR SUMMER TASK TO THE BLOG
You will be shown how to navigate the blog and of course design and publish your own blog posts. Remember…your blog posts are the equivalent of submitted work that is ready for assessment and feedback by your teacher(s).
Each blog post should be considered, critical, creative and carefully constructed. Normally, you will be expected to complete blog posts that reflect your knowledge and understanding of the topics / skills that have been covered day by day / week by week.
It is YOUR responsibility to keep up with the workload, and pace your productivity in step with what is being taught each step of the way. You will receive feedback either directly in response to the blog posts you publish, or as a response to a set of tasks in the form of a TRACKING SHEET.
The TRACKING SHEET will include a list of tasks / skills / blog posts that you must produce…as well as deadlines, extension tasks and the marking criteria.
During your first lesson or two you will be expected to submit and display your summer task. As a group we will discuss the merits and limitations of the mini-projects, and your work will be assessed soon and you will receive feedback too. Your Summer Task will then form the start of your coursework (Component 1 / 50% of overall mark).
(If you have not completed a Summer Task as a new recruit…then you have until Friday 13th September to complete the task appropriately.)
We will also discuss your thoughts and feelings / knowledge and understanding of…
Photography’s function(s)
Photography as an art-form
Photography as a science
The difference between the study of photography and the practice of photography
Henri Cartier-Bresson once said…”Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst”
What do you think Cartier-Bresson meant by this…? Discuss
Other…
Blog Overview
Sharepoint Overview
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom
Demonstrating a critical and contextual understanding of photography can be tricky, especially if the subject is relatively new to you in Year 12. The following activities have been designed to encourage you to reflect on what you know already about photography. Hopefully, some of the prompts will encourage you to further develop your understanding of photography through additional pondering and research.
In small groups, discuss the following questions and create a poster / brainstorm with your findings and answers…
Why do people take/make photographs?
Why is photography important?
What skills do you need to be a good photographer?
How many different kinds of photography can you think of?
How does photography help us see the world?
Can photographic images be trusted?
What are the similarities and differences between photography and other types of visual art?
When would it not be OK to take a photograph?
How do you know when you’ve made a good photograph?
Are photographers also artists?
Where is the best place to see photographs?
What kind of photography interests you most?
What confuses or frustrates you about photography?
Watch this short film in which the photographer William Klein discusses his contact sheets. Make some brief notes. What does he help us to understand about photography?
This induction task is designed for students who wish to study AS Photography. The aim of this task is to ensure that the students who have chosen this option both understand the requirements of the course and start as early as possible in their journey towards completing it to a high level. The work you produce in this Induction Task will be used to stimulate a group discussion during the first session as well as form the beginning of Component 1 (coursework).
Stimulus : “Occupation and Liberation”
Occupation ID Card – JerseyLiberation Square – Jersey
This task should be an ongoing investigation over the summer so expect to spend at least 2-3 hours a week over a four week period in order to develop your idea…
Aim to respond creatively to the stimulus… “Occupation and Liberation.”
Show how you can observe, interpret, define and most importantly photograph signs of occupation / liberation. You may want to explore visual aspects, or subtle and nuanced ways of photography various forms of occupation / liberation that have an emotional or personal edge. There are many possibilities…some more obvious than others.
You should / could start by photographing some of the following suggestions…
German bunkers / fortifications / sea defences
walls, barriers, fences
local slave labour camps
artefacts and other evidence
survivors / islanders who were here during the occupation itself
memorials
And aim to produce a set of photographic responses based on your own research of photographers from this selection…
Self-portrait (with Nazi badge between her teeth) by Claude Cahun, 1945
What is
required:
Research your own chosen photographer, who is he/she, what type of photography, what does it say to you?
Analyse his/her work, style, technique, meaning – show knowledge and understanding
Respond – at least 3 different shoots that show development of your ideas and style as well as your understanding of abstract photography
Edit – make a first selection and cut down the three shoots to the best ten images, and justify your selection in annotation.
Experiment – work on cropping, adjustments of brightness/ contrast/ colour correction and show further Photoshop / editing techniques.
Evaluate – describe process of experimentation and reflect on learning etc.
Present – put all work together in a digital format such as Powerpoint / Word
Select your favourite outcome, print out as an A4 image and explain why you have chosen it in your final evaluation (at least 200-300 words.)
How to proceed:
Research an artist reference,
the background and life of the artist and explain why you have chosen that
particular photographer. What do his / her photographs say to you? Look at
composition and its visual elements e.g. line,
form, shape, colour, tone, contrast, texture, depth, balance, space,
perspective, viewpoint, foreground/ mid-ground/ background, rule of third. Look
at the use of lighting e.g. natural lighting; sunlight, overcast, soft, harsh,
directional, contrast and artificial lighting: studio, flash, spotlight, side-light,
backlight, reflected light, shadows, chiaroscuro (light / darkness).
Use photographic language as above in your annotation and consider the artistic merits :
Technical
, Visual , Conceptual and Contextual elements
Write a short introduction about the work of your chosen photographer and the nature of their work
Issues to consider:
His / her attitude to photography and the advantages / disadvantages of the camera as a way of “seeing”
Are we looking at fact or fiction (or a hybrid of both?)
The ways in which your chosen photographer explored the formal elements in his / her work e.g. form, light, rhythm, line, texture, repetition etc.
Planning: Once you have spent
time evaluating the work of your chosen photographer, plan a shoot using the
same techniques and mindset.
You must: Produce a mind map
showing your thought process and with breadth of thinking, and a mood board
(collage of images) to illustrate the look and feel of your project.
You should: Start to write annotations of your thoughts,
how are you going to proceed with the project? What are your inspirations? Your
doubts? Your worries? How will you start? Consider as many experiments as you
can.
You Could: Add in photographic responses as you write the blog, showing how your ideas are developing. Show variations and experimentation of different shoots, different ideas.
Recording: After planning your
idea, gather together what you need. When you take pictures try and think about
everything that you see in the frame – what’s in the foreground, mid-ground, background. To achieve this you must think about composing your picture (use your
zoom lens and/or distancing yourself from subject/object), focussing (sharp,
soft focus), use creative exposure tools on camera like fast/slow shutter speed
to either freeze or blur a sense of movement, different aperture settings to
control the area of focus and sharpness in your picture. E.g. a high aperture setting like f5.6 will make the background soft and
out of focus whereas an aperture of f16
will make everything in the picture sharp from foreground to background. Also
by zooming in or using a telephoto lens you can throw the background out of
focus, or conversely if using a wide-angle everything in the frame will be in
focus. Crop
your images carefully.
You must:
Produce
the contact prints from at least three shoots, each dated with your selections
highlighted.
You
should:
Ensure the three shoots are as varied as possible, showing your ability to be
creative and that you can learn from the shooting process. Include the experience into your blog.
You could: Increase the number of shoots and once you
have highlighted your selection, give reasons for choice linking with the work
of the photographer.
Editing: Editing is one of the most important aspects of photographic practice so be critical and selective when you choose your final selection of 5 images and then your best photograph. Think about sequence and relation between images – does your series of images convey a sense of narrative (story) or are they repetitious? Sometimes less is more!
You Must: Gather your images and
select your final selection approx 10 images, describe each of the images,
artistically and share your thoughts on what why you took and then selected the
image.
You
should:
Show your ability to correct the images using image manipulation software, such
as Photoshop, consider the cropping, adjust levels, contrast, colour
correction, B/W and balance of the image.
You could: Use Photoshop to enhance your creativity and expand on the possibilities that photography gives you, include screen grabs to illustrate the techniques you have used.
Presentation: Think about how you
present your work in terms of layout, scale, colour and perspective. A Powerpoint presentation is ideal
The
presentation of your photographs is just as important as your photographic
images themselves. Consistency of layout throughout is paramount and try to
make your work personal.
You must: Gather all of your
work and present it in a logical manner
A grid format could work well for this exercise
You should: Produce an individual and comprehensive response
to both your chosen artist and the inspirations that the artist has given you.
You could: Design within Adobe Photoshop or similar package, a theme to enhance the
imagery and clarify the message of your response.
Evaluation: Reflect, contrast and compare the images and ideas that you have taken and write 500-1000 word account of how you made the photos, development of idea and what you were trying to achieve and communicate. This can be done throughout your layout as annotation or at the end as part of your final evaluation. Finally, choose your favourite image and present this separately from your series of images. Accompany this with a brief written analysis (250-500 words) explaining in some detail what it is that you think works well about this image.
You must: Evaluate your work, compare it with the work of
your chosen artist reference and consider the areas that were most successful
and why.
You
should:
Discuss the changes you could make to improve the project and analyze the
reasons of your success and how you would add
value.
You
could:
Show how you would take the project to a higher
level and give examples of the methods and inspiration that you could
employ to achieve this.
Make sure you bring
with you:
all of your work (that covers points 1-8 in your chosen digital format)
including your best A4 printed image for your first photography lesson on Wednesday 4th September 2019.
